Despite drop, 2013 still among highest of past decade for Flint

FLINT, MI -- Despite a 22 percent drop in homicides this year, Flint will see its fourth-straight year of more than 50 killings -- a total that five years ago was
the exception rather than the rule.

There have been 52 killings in Flint in 2013, a significant drop from the 67 homicides the city experienced in a
record-setting 2012.

The city experienced 57 killings in 2011 and 66 in 2010 --
the city's previous record high.

The last time Flint recorded four consecutive years of at least 50 homicides was 1989-1992, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Flint's 2013 homicide total is on pace to be its lowest
since 2009 when the city recorded 41 killings, according to Flint Journal
records.

"The
causes of crime are extremely complex," according to Genesee County Prosecutor
David Leyton. "There are many societal issues including, but not limited to
poverty, unemployment, mental illness and drug dealing and drug dependency that
have an effect"

Despite discrepancies in the total number of homicides
recorded by the city and the amount reported to the FBI for its annual crime report, the city rarely recorded 50
homicides over the past two decades.

The city recorded 30-49 homicides 13 times in the past two decades, according to Flint Journal and FBI statistics. There were only 19 homicides reported in 1997, according to the FBI.

The city has experienced more than 50 killings six times
in the past two decades, according to Flint Journal and FBI records. Four of
those instances occurred in the past four years.

The city had 55 killings in 2006, according to Flint
Journal records. FBI data shows the only
other instance of 50-plus killings in that two-decade time span occurred in
1994, the last year in a stretch of elevated homicide rates highlighted by 61
killings in 1986 -- a record number of killings that was set as crack
cocaine took hold of American cities and would stand for more than two
decades.

Each time the city set a new record for homicides since
1986 it would experience a double digit percentage drop in the number of
killings the next year, according to FBI and Flint Journal records. Homicides
dropped 14 percent from 61 in 1986 to 52 in 1987 and 15 percent from 66 in 2010
to 57 in 2011.

However, in the years following those drops the number of
killings would often increase with 59 being reported in 1989 and 67 in 2012 --
another new record high for the city. It's unknown if 2014 will follow the same
trend.

"It's
difficult to predict future homicide numbers," Leyton said. "This year's
decrease is due, in significant part, to the increased Michigan State Police
presence and additional prosecutors funded by the distressed cities initiative. Flint police have performed
extremely well under very difficult circumstances helping stem the tide of
violence."

Flint's annual homicide totals for the past decade,
according to Flint Journal records: